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To give some background, the NFL, aside from the discussion monopolizing concussion issue, has come under significant fire (and lawsuits) over its use of Toradol, an extremely powerful painkiller and blood thinner typically and properly only used for short periods of time, typically post surgery. Toradol used properly can cause heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure as well as gastrointestinal bleeding, peptic ulcers, that increases with repeated use.

Former NFL center Jeremy Newberry said he would sometimes see 20 or 30 players lined up before a game to get a shot of the drug. Another NFL source said that figure was exaggerated.

Newberry said Toradol "makes you feel like Superman for three hours," but the 35-year-old now is suffering from Stage 3 kidney failure that doctors attribute to Toradol.

"I think they're playing Russian roulette basically," Pierce Scranton, former Seahawks team doctor, told Kremer. "You are describing a patient population of football players who on a chronic basis are using Toradal just to play, and that's outside of the FDA guideline. In essence that would be construed as off label and not used for what its intended use was."

If the sport can't exist without a rather surprising number of players killing themselves or in wheelchairs at age 40 due to head trauma or without shooting them so full of horse tranquilizers they can't even get on the field, why should it exist in its current state.

I go both ways on this, but the NFLPA is there to fight for the players, they didn't make the league spend the last forever actively covering up extremely unethical medical activity, and the league should definitely pay for their hand in it.

The main issue I have is the obvious cascading of events. If the game cannot be made safe, particularly at high school and college levels, it's going to get ugly, and that change will likely have to occur from the NFL down to standardize it. States will begin banning and pulling public funding, which will cripple the high school and college games, which dries up the talent pool and damages / kills the culture of people who grow up with the sport. AKA, how many high schools still have boxing clubs?

If the sport can't exist without a rather surprising number of players killing themselves or in wheelchairs at age 40 due to head trauma or without shooting them so full of horse tranquilizers they can't even get on the field, why should it exist in its current state.

I go both ways on this, but the NFLPA is there to fight for the players, they didn't make the league spend the last forever actively covering up extremely unethical medical activity, and the league should definitely pay for their hand in it.

The main issue I have is the obvious cascading of events. If the game cannot be made safe, particularly at high school and college levels, it's going to get ugly, and that change will likely have to occur from the NFL down to standardize it. States will begin banning and pulling public funding, which will cripple the high school and college games, which dries up the talent pool and damages / kills the culture of people who grow up with the sport. AKA, how many high schools still have boxing clubs?

No doubt the NFL is culpable and its a damn shame they took so long to respond to some of the retired players needs... whats even more puzzling is that it was the NFLPA that was keeping the retired players out of the loop and denying them benefits.

The retired players sue the NFLPA, the NFLPA sues the NFL.. and the NFL squeezes every dime it can out of the fans.. its a big circle jerk.

There seems to be something else at play here because the SPORT did exist for ~ 100 years without an surprising number of players killing themselves or in wheelchairs by they were 40... Its only recently that we have seen a rash of NFL player suicides.

Joined: 11 Dec 2007Posts: 3169Location: Restaurant at the end of the universe

Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 11:00 pm Post subject:

The NFLPA is a strange beast.They seem to think along the lines that it is ok for them to ignore,disparage,hurt etc their own members but no one else is allowed to do it.
I cannot take anything seriously about them in regards to player safety when 1 of their own members (Urlacher) comes out saying he would lie about concussions and the very same NFLPA takes absolutely no measures against him.
To have one of your members publicly say this and you to do nothing about it shows that they have absolutely no interest in the safety of their members but only have interest in money or scoring points against the NFL.

If the sport can't exist without a rather surprising number of players killing themselves or in wheelchairs at age 40 due to head trauma or without shooting them so full of horse tranquilizers they can't even get on the field, why should it exist in its current state.

I go both ways on this, but the NFLPA is there to fight for the players, they didn't make the league spend the last forever actively covering up extremely unethical medical activity, and the league should definitely pay for their hand in it.

The main issue I have is the obvious cascading of events. If the game cannot be made safe, particularly at high school and college levels, it's going to get ugly, and that change will likely have to occur from the NFL down to standardize it. States will begin banning and pulling public funding, which will cripple the high school and college games, which dries up the talent pool and damages / kills the culture of people who grow up with the sport. AKA, how many high schools still have boxing clubs?

Not to mention, the other elephant in the room- rising insurance rates for the liability. Cost of compliance is going to lower participation in the sport at the lower level, but perhaps it's just desserts for the NFL given how aggressively they marketed the game to kids while hiding the concussion dangers, which resulted in numerous kids actually getting killed because high schools followed whatever the NFL did.

Of course, the players who understand the risks and still want to play lose. My guess is you'll see a rise in flag football as it's safer, cheaper to insure, and cheaper for the school to provide. The schools that value having a big football program will find the funding from other, less popular programs like music, theater, and art- although many of those budgets have already been picked pretty clean.